Twelve Days of Christmas
by deadheadwookie27
Summary: Christmas is supposed to be a time of happiness, and a time of relaxation. For the Wizarding world it is about to turn into something completely opposite. HHR
1. Santa Claws is Coming to Town

**A/N: I have just recently become bored with Harry and Ginny stories. Hermione is my favorite character of the series, so I figured I'd try a Harry/Hermione fic. This story may have lemon in it, not sure I've never tried it. So i hope you enjoy it!**

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**Santa Claws is coming to Town**

The snow fell silently over the city of London. With Christmas just a few days away, the streets and buildings were decorated festively; lights and wreathes plastered from windows and streetlights, small ceramic reindeer rested in infinite slumbers on displays. From some of the stores came soft and calm music, adorning the up coming holiday.

With a full moon over town, a man ran the streets. His trainers made prints in the snow that had covered the sidewalk, long after men had stopped shoveling it. Puffs of smoke flew from his mouth as he raced along the white walk. The man- with a bit of a pudgy stomach and looked to be about twenty- looked over his shoulder constantly. He came to a corner and skidded around it, waving his arms frantically to keep his balance.

"Please," he breathed out hoping that someone would hear, "Merlin, please don't let me stop!" His silent, frantic, tone was labored and forced. He kept running through various side streets, taking small shortcuts as he went. It was obvious that he was running from something, something that wanted him.

One alley made him stop with a skid. He started to sob. "No, no, no! Fuck!" It was a dead end. He turned to run back through the way he came, but he froze. Something had been following and that something was standing in the middle of the alley. "Who are you?! Why are you doing this to me?!" the man tore at his hair, screaming at the figure.

It cocked its head to the side, almost curiously, before it threw its head back. Long locks of hair flew with it, spreading widely. A harsh, echoing metallic laughter bounded off of the walls, taking a long time to dissipate into the night sky.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" He backed up against the wall, sliding down into the snow. He sobbed into his hands.

The thing moved forward-each step covered at least a meter and a half-walking as gracefully as a professional dancer. As it reached the man it cocked its head again, looking down in pity and disgust. It wasn't a worthy opponent, but it did fire at him, that made it right for the man to be killed.

The man looked up as he heard clicking, his face contorted to a look of horror. It grabbed him by the throat, lifting him three meters off of the ground. The man tore at the hand, trying to pry it loose, and kicked at its stomach. There was no avail. He could only watch as the snowflakes melted on its body, as the other arm rose into the air.

There were only three more sounds that night. The last scream of the captured man was the first. It was followed by a series of tearing and ripping noises. Finally, there was a triumphant roar rising high into the night.

* * *

_"Harry?" Hermione asked him. She, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were all in the Gryffindor Common Room; all sitting in front of a roaring fire. _

_"Hmm?" came the response, the young wizards eyes closed and leaning against the couch cushion._

_"Have you given any thought of what you want to do when we leave Hogwarts?" He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Like I mean have you really though about it?"_

_"Come on Hermione!" Ron whined. "Not this again? Why can't we just have one day, just one, where we aren't planning anything?"_

_"Ron, I'm just curious." Hermione twisted a strand of hair around her finger. _

_"Well just leave it. I mean, you don't have to nag all the time do you." _

_"No… I guess not." She quietly got up and went through the portrait hole, not before Harry saw the tears in her eyes. _

_"Nice one Ron." He smacked the redhead and went after Hermione. _

_"Hey!" He yelled at him, but the boy was already gone._

_"Hermione!" Harry was running after her. "Wait!" She didn't stop, not until he finally reached her. Her eyes were teary and bloodshot; her arms were wrapped around herself, hugging her body. She wouldn't look him in the face. Harry lifted her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Hey, come on now. Where's that smile at?" She avoided his eyes. He turned his head upside down. "Oup! There it is!" She laughed a little and wiped her eyes. "There's the Hermione I know." He hugged her, which she returned earnestly. _

_"I'm sorry. He just… I don't know why I ever liked him." _

_"Wait, liked? As in you don't anymore?" She shook her head. "Well… Who do you like?" _

_"Just some guy." She absentmindedly kicked her shoes together, again avoiding his eyes._

_"Hermione, I want you to know," he started off nervously, "that you have always been my best friend. You always will be." She nodded, still not looking at him._

_"Same here. Harry?"_

_"Yeah?" She finally looked at him._

_"Would you mind if I told you something, like something no-one else knows?" She asked, a blush rising into her cheeks._

_"Not at all. In fact, I'd be more than honoured. Hold on though, let's find somewhere more private." He pulled her into the nearest empty classroom and sat on a desk. "Okay, shoot."_

_"I'm in love." She blurted out. Her hands flew to her mouth, as her eyes grew big. Harry just sat there and grinned._

_"I'm happy for you!" He pulled her into a hug. "Who's the lucky guy? Or girl? OW!" He earned a smack in the arm. "But seriously, who is he?" She took a breath and crushed her mouth onto his. His eyes flew wide-open, shock settling in, before he kissed back._

_Fifteen minutes later found the two fighting for breath and tongues returning to their rightful owners. _

_"Does that… answer your question?" She panted. _

_He nodded. "And I believe you now know who I love?" She grinned a huge smile. _

_"Well Mr. Potter," she walked seductively back up to him, flicking the opening of his collar and sliding a hand through his hair, "whatever are we going to do now?"_

_"Oh, I'm sure we can-" but another mouth was crushed to his. His hands went for the top of her shirt, unbuttoning it as he fought for dominance in the battle of mouths…_

"Harry!" Hermione said groggily. He opened his eyes quickly and sat up.

"Whasgoingon?" He rubbed at the crust sticking his eyelids. He got a bearing on his surroundings. It was completely dark in the room. "Hermione," he reached over and found her face, "are you okay?"

"Besides your finger in my nose," she laughed as he blushed in the dark and pulled his hand away, "yes love I'm fine. You however have an owl." He sighed and went over to the window.

"You know you woke me from the most amazing dream!" He opened the window and the owl hopped in, shooting its leg out. He took the letter and gave the owl a treat, as it flew off he walked back over to his bed.

"Mmm?" She lazily answered.

"Yes indeed, twas the day in which we… confessed to each other." Even in the dark he saw her smile. Laughing, he turned on the light. She groaned in protest. "Sorry! Here." He placed his pillow over her eyes. He saw her smile again.

"Thanks." She whispered.

"Always." He opened the letter and began to read. It dropped from his fingertips as he stared at the empty air where it had been.

"What's it about?" Hermione asked, her arm draped over the pillow. "Harry?" She pulled the pillow away and looked at him, squinting at the light. "Harry honey, what's wrong?" She reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't respond. She grabbed the letter and began to read. Her mouth dropped as tears sprung to her eyes. "Oh Harry… I'm so sorry. Tell Kingsley you can't take this one!" She pulled him into a hug, in which he actually returned.

"You know I can't do that." He whispered. He kissed her head and got dressed. It was his holiday, so he dressed in a more comfortable muggle attire.

Hermione sat on the edge of the bed and pouted childishly. He looked back at her. "Oh don't be like that."

"I don't want you to go." She crossed her arms over her naked chest.

"Hermione, you know if it was anyone but him I wouldn't go…" He tried to plead with her.

"But it's our vacation! I want to spend it with you, that's the reason I agreed to marry you Potter, so I could always be with you!" He sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Hermione… Wait, I have an idea." She raised her eyebrow.

"I'm listening…"

"How about you come with me?" Her face remained unchanged, until the corners of her mouth quirked upwards. "I know it really isn't better conditions, but I'd be able to deal with it a lot better with you there." He shrugged. "That is if you want t-" a pair of lips cut him off. The wet smacks of their mouths stopped as he began to talk. "I'll take it as a yes. Now go get changed." She moved to the dresser and he pinched her exposed bottom. She glared at him. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

It took them fifteen minutes to get completely dressed and apparate to the Leaky Cauldron. He and Hermione waved to Tom, the owner, and they walked into muggle London.

As they looked at all of the festive decorations, they came to the alleyway. They walked into said alleyway, and identified themselves. The wards went up behind them as the two came up to the crime scene.

Kingsley Shacklebolt looked up from the mangled body, nodding to Harry. "Hello Potter, Mrs. Potter."

"Hello Kingsley." The both responded. Harry peeked around the man to get a closer look at the body. His face blanched and he turned to his right, away from his wife, and began to vomit. His knees hit the pavement harshly, as he spilled his stomach all out onto the ground. Hermione rubbed his back and spoke comfortingly into his ear.

He stopped and looked up at his mentor. "Jesus kid, I've never once seen you throw up…"

"Well I've never seen a body… quite like that. Are you sure it's him?" Kingsley nodded grimly.

"I lost my stomach when I saw him too." He was handing Harry the wallet when Hermione blanched and began to retch next to Harry. He pulled the hair out of her eyes and began to speak comfortingly. She stopped and got to her feet, still wobbling.

"Sorry." She said meekly, a blush creeping to her pale complexion.

"Hermione it's fine. Are you okay?" She nodded, pushing herself into him, shielding her head in his neck. Kingsley handed him the wallet and he looked from the body to the identification. The body was missing its head, and was skinned, stuck to the wall. The wallet had been taken from the clothes pile off to the side, which was also laced with organs and the missing skin. "Jesus Christ." The I.D. confirmed the death: **Neville Longbottom.**

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I'd really like some feedback on this one. Sorry it was slow, it's going to get a lot better, and I am going to finish this one! So just leave a review telling me what you thought, It'd be much appreciated.  
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	2. Deck the Halls with Blood and Holly

**A/N**:** So here is the second chapter of this tale. I'm a little bit disappointed that it hasn't had that much success. For those who have enjoyed the first chapter, the second one is a hell of a lot better. This chapter has violence, actually the majority of it is a battle scene in Knockturn Alley. Hope it is enjoyed.**

**Deck the Halls with Blood and Holly**

"Harry, have you thought how you're going to tell her?" She and Harry were walking up a cobblestone sidewalk, nearing a small cottage in the countryside. It was snowing and the wind howled. It was definitely not a day to be outside.

Harry shook his head and pulled his coat closer to him, sighing, "Not yet." Hermione gave him a look of sympathy and grasped his hand.

"I'm going to be right here." He smiled at her.

"I know."

They walked up to the door. Hermione flicked her wand and they became instantly dry. Harry reached up and used the knocker.

They heard the sound of feet hit the hardwood floor inside, then multiple steps of someone running to the door. It was flung open revealing a blonde headed girl with bloodshot eyes.

"Oh. Hello Harry, Hermione." Luna said, her usual distant self replaced with a persona of sorrow.

"Hi Luna." Harry replied. Hermione also said hello, gripping his hand harder.

"Please, come in. Daftly cold out there isn't it?" They nodded earnestly and walked through the door, still contemplating how to tell the poor girl about the death of her husband.

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From the top of a building, tall and gloriously crafted, stood a figure. It looked down upon bustling people, rushing in and out of doorways. '_Pitiful,_' it thought.

Nobody saw it watching them. The heavy winds managed to shape the snow into a wall of obscurity. It, however, had the technology to see them; it had the upper hand.

It heard a shout and quickly located the source; it watched as one of the humans, ran down an alley. He quickly distinguished it as a male, the heart rate beating faster and faster with each step. It realized that this male was scared. Looking behind him he saw more humans, these had the pounding hearts of exhilaration; the connection was made fairly quick: the group was hunting this other human.

It focused more clearly on the humans, listening to their words. The group pursuing the loner shouted words such as: _Avada Kedavra, Reducto, Sectumsempra_. Each would expel a beam of light from the end of a stick. The man ducked each one of them with skill, in which the figure watching approved of. Though as the chase moved on, one of the beams hit him, having him fall to the ground, missing an arm. All other's had moved away from the scene, fleeing in terror, as the group moved upon the man. It had decided that enough was enough and the fight was not fair.

Scaling the side of the building with ease, the being only went so far and waited. It blended in with the wall pattern with ease, not even using its technology. It listened, trying to make sense of the speech before resigning to using a translator.

"Ah, so the wolf has become the prey! Ooo, how marvelous!" A female cackled. It made no sense to the being, nor did it care.

"Go to hell Lestrange!" The wounded one shouted, spitting out blood.

"Oh, little bit of a potty wotty mouth eh? I know ways of fixing that. _Crucio_!" The man on the ground began to convulse and twist in painful ways. His heart rate spike dangerously. It was time for this to stop. The creature leapt off of the building in a back flip, landing between the group and the man. The group took a step back in shock, but quickly regained their footing. "Oy! Who's there?" The female squinted through the blinding storm.

It stood stoically, waiting for them to make the first move. He played a voice clip from the night before, having an eerie metallic resonance. "_Why are you doing this?_"

The man lying on the ground asked silently, "Neville?"

"That aint Longbottom!" One of the group members said, though no one gave a response to its question.

It took a step forward, allowing them to see it better. No one spoke, though their mouths hung agape. It watched as one of the members soiled themselves and responded by chuckling in a mocking fashion. It took another step forward.

"Stop if you know what's good for you!" The female cried again.

"Watch it!" The male from behind screamed. It looked at him. "They're Death Eaters!" As it turned back around it quickly dodged a beam of light that had been aimed at its head. The fight was now on; he had been attacked first.

Quickly strafing to his right, he targeted three of the seven members. With three "cracks" and flashes of blue light, three fell dead, perfect precision. One's head had been eradicated, spraying the others in brain matter, while the other two had holes in their chest.

"Scatter!" The female ordered. Two members disappeared with "pops", yet the creature did not care. They were too cowardly to fight and he would catch up with them eventually. The other two, the female and an overly large man, remained yet hid. It carefully found their heat signatures and dodged two more beams of light. Reaching to its thigh it grabbed a circular object. It placed its talon like fingers into the holes and squeezed. Beeping to life, the disk was thrown at the male. He jumped to the side, avoiding it and laughed.

"That the best you got? Throwing a muggle Frisbee?" the two laughed, yet they did not notice the disk turn around. Only when it sliced through the male's hand and cutting both their sticks in two, did their laughing stop. The man began to scream while the female backed away in terror.

It caught the disk and holstered it back onto its leg. Noting that they were no longer a threat, it moved towards them. The male growled, primitively, and lunged at it.

"Fenrir, no!" The female shouted. Ignoring the protest, he punched with his only remaining hand, only to hear the breaking of his fingers. As he screamed, the creature mocked him, shaking it's head back and forth while forming a clicking noise. The male kicked at its head, yet the leg was caught with one hand. The male's eyes grew wide and fearful as another hand reached up and positioned itself on the kneecap. With a quick and fluent motion, the creature moved its arms in different directions, causing the limb to snap in half. A guttural scream emitted from the mans throat. There were two visible pieces of bone sticking from the leg. The male looked from it back to the creature, soon the pain was over come with anger and he snarled, lunging his head forward in a last attempt to attack it. The creature admired its will to fight, yet found the offensive tactless and worthless. It grabbed his head while it was in motion and brought it against his knee. The head oozed blood and gore, squeezing out like a toothpaste container. It let the body fall limply to the ground.

Turning back upon the female, his stride was slow and calm. She backed herself right up against the wall, breathing heavily and panicked.

"Go fuck yourself! Can't even show your face, pathetic piece of troll shi-" her sentence was cut short by a large, taloned hand closing around her throat. She spat at it; an angry growl was her response. It looked back at the wounded human male, the one he had saved, and gestured for him to leave.

The man watched as the creature, with Bellatrix Lestrange in hand, leapt upwards and grabbed the edge of a rooftop. It drug itself, along with the woman, onto the roof and took off, the only thing remaining were her screams. Remus Lupin sat in the street, growing cold and dizzy from the mounting snow and blood loss. He finally gained his composure and apparated away.

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It was bad. Luna hadn't reacted in the way they thought she would, but who could categorize a reaction after their spouse's death? She didn't scream. She didn't cry. She sat and stared. It was a stare that went for thousands of meters, maybe more. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and grimaced, knowing that they were responsible.

"Luna?" Hermione tentatively asked. Luna didn't respond. She looked at Harry, worry all over her features, he squeezed her shoulder lovingly, symbolizing that he would try.

"Luna." He spoke her name in a more demanding fashion, not harshly though. She responded by looking at him.

"I need some time to… process this. Please, excuse me." She got up to leave; yet Harry grabbed her arm.

"We are here if you need it, you know that right?"

She didn't answer verbally, but nodded her head. Tears had begun to streak her pale face so he let go. She swiftly ran up the stairs and closed a door quietly. A sob was emitted followed by long and deep cries of pain and sorrow. Harry looked at the floor.

"We should go." Hermione wrapped her arm around his waste, his arm wrapped around her shoulder, and they left the quaint little home as the sobs grew more personal and sorrow filled.

* * *

Nymphadora Tonks carried a tray through her home, avoiding booby traps set by one Sirius Black. The tray contained cups of tea and sandwiches, a nice afternoon snack for when her husband arrived.

"Sirius!" She called out. "There's food here, do try to save some for Remus though!" Sirius came skidding into the kitchen, hopping on one foot to keep his balance, over the prospect of food. He bounded across the linoleum and literally flung himself into a chair. Tonks laughed and shook her head, her cousin and his food. She heard a pop from the next room.

"Remus, is that you? Lunch is ready when you want some." Tonks shouted to her husband. She didn't get a response. "Remus?" She turned to look at Sirius, who looked from her back to the sandwich that was just reaching his mouth and back to her. He whimpered, his lip trembling, at the food he wasn't allowed to finish, but resigned and went into the other room.

"Moony, I hope that you understand that I had to give up a tasty sandwich in order to drag your mangy arse into the… other… room. Jesus Christ Moony!" Sirius ran over to Remus, who was lying on the floor. Sirius heard Tonks scream and run over as well but he was focused on his best friend. "Moony, come on now!" He smacked his cheek, trying to waken the werewolf. Moonys eyes opened slowly; there was a fear held within them that no one had seen since the first war against Voldemort.

"Remus!" Tonks threw herself on top of him, mashing her lips with his. He didn't kiss back, he just lie there, staring up at the ceiling. "Remus, what happened?" Tonks was crying openly, but Remus was muttering something and neither she nor Sirius could hear him.

"I can't… Hold on, _Sonorus._" Sirius invoked the charm onto Remus and his voice was brought up to a light whisper. Tonks leaned down to listen better and promptly ran over to the fireplace. Sirius was about to ask her what was going on when he saw silent tears streaking down Remus's face. He tried to console him with corny jokes such as: "Come on now we have to be serious, well we both can't be because that's me, Sirius…" and still noting. He caught words from Tonks's floo call slike "Lestrange" and "slaughtered", but that was about it. Sirius decided that it wasn't a great time so he began patching up the bloody stump where Moody's arm used to be.

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**Well there is chapter two. Hope it was liked. **


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